In honor of the holiday, I’ll direct you here.
Please have fun. Please be safe!
Glitter Star Wreath
Fourth of July Decorating is one of my favorites.
I’m not really that patriotic a person, it’s just that my birthday is a few days after the fourth, and I like to think the entire month is mine to celebrate.
Lately on the craft blogs and Pinterest, wreaths with big stars are popping up, some made out of tin, or wood. This one, made of paper, really caught my eye.
Of course I wanted to change it up a bit.
Instead of a vintage look, I went with a glitter version (not real glitter, that’s too messy), and took cues from the original craft post on how to make the paper stars really look more three-dimensional. Instead of using stamping ink, though, I did the whole thing digitally.
In Adobe Illustrator
In Illustrator, I drew up a star, and then resized it several times so I’d have some variety for my wreath. Using the pen tool, I drew straight lines from the center of each point to the opposite side. I changed the stroke to a brush effect, and then changed the opacity to 40% so that whatever I placed underneath it would show through a bit. These lines are going to create a shaded effect on the ridges of the stars when they are folded.
I like to work in Illustrator because I’ve used it for many years, but you can accomplish this same look in whatever design program you are comfortable with.
DeviantArt designer harperfinch has a great assortment of free background digital files that are great for projects like this. I found files for red, white and blue glitter backgrounds.
Because I’m going to do this as a Silhouette Studio Print and Cut project, I placed the glitter backgrounds in on separate layers in my Illustrator document, and then exported the star shapes as DXF files, and the shading and glitter layers and PNG files.
I also set up a polygon to be cut as my wreath background shape. Most of it isn’t going to be visible, but I thought the extra corners on the polygon would give me more surface to glue the stars to in the end. I exported that file as a DXF file as well, because the standard version of Silhouette Studio cannot work with an Illustrator file, but it can open the DXF format.
In Silhouette Studio
In Silhouette Studio I set up a document that is 8.5 x 11 and turned the registration marks on. I then brought in my cut file and my image file for the white glitter version, and centered them to each other.
There are three small white squares added in to block off the digital glitter background where the registration marks are – you cannot have any printing in those shaded areas or the laser detection for print and cut will fail.
I saved the file because I’m going to need it later for cutting. I then sent the file to my printer, and printed two sheets.
Two more versions of this file are needed, one each for the red and blue versions. I printed two sheets of each of those as well.
To finish the print and cut, I placed a sheet of the stars on my cutting mat, making sure to have the little square in the upper left corner, matching the screen. After changing the cut settings for the card stock I had printed on, I sent the file to print.
After all the sheets were cut and weeded, I set up and cut three pieces for my wreath form. I didn’t have any stock that was thick enough, so by cutting three and gluing them together, I made my own special cardstock.
Final Assembly
Using a ruler and a scoring tool, I scored the back side of the stars from the center of each point to the opposite side.
And then I folded the star along each of the lines, and pinched them into the final star shape. The shading effect is subtle, but it really helps the paper look much more sturdy than it really is.
I arranged the stars approximately how I wanted them to look on the form, and then hot glued them into place. Because the stars aren’t flat, it’s a little tricky getting them glued on. Use lots of glue only on the spots that actually touch the form or each other. And be careful to not get burned squishing them into place.
Grilled Asparagus
I do not really remember eating asparagus as a kid, and I only saw it a few times at holiday meals in my early adult life. All the recipes for it seemed ultra-tricky – I don’t own a stand up steamer and hollandaise sauce looks pretty finicky to make and not have separate.
A few years ago, when we tried grilling pretty much everything to see if we could, we tried asparagus and it was a nearly instant success. The only real trick is you need a grill pan of some sort to keep those stalks from rolling into the grates and being eaten by the fire.
We add garlic cloves to the pan for an additional kick of carmelized flavor, but you can skip this step if you are not a fan.
Grilled Asparagus
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 3
Ingredients
- 1 pound fresh asparagus
- 3-4 cloves of garlic
- Splash Balsamic Vinegar
- Splash Splash Olive Oil
Instructions
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Pre-heat the grill with a grill pan on the grates.
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Rinse and pat dry the asparagus. Cut off the tough bottom ends (quick tip – leave that bottom rubber band on and cut above it to make trimming easier).
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Peel the garlic. If a milder taste is desired, place the cloves in a microwave safe measuring cup with a cup of water and microwave for 1 minute.
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Combine asparagus and garlic in a bowl and add a splash of olive oil; mix well (I use my hands) to make sure everything has a light coating of oil to prevent sticking.
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When grill pan is hot, add vegetables and toss, being careful to avoid splatter from the oil.
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Monitor while grilling, stirring/flipping occasionally.
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Remove from the grill using long-handled tongs and transfer to a serving plate.
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Splash with Balsamic Vinegar, and cover with foil to keep the heat in while you plate up your other grilled dinner items.
Recipe Notes
The 30 minutes of prep time includes bringing the grill up to cooking temperature; actual hands on prep time is less than 5 minutes.
For grilling vegetables, we use a cast iron grill pan, but I've had success with those thinner metal ones with the holes in them that you find in the grilling section of hardware and cooking gadget stores.
Stir occasionally while grilling - these are not fussy and do not need to be perfect; like the grilled mushrooms, the goal is get them good and charred but not burned.
Web Wednesday: June 28, 2017
- As a person who has good intentions but often ends up with odd results on DIY home improvement projects, this made me laugh.
- On my adulting list last week was meeting with a loan officer about the best time to refinance our mortgage, and while the web is full of information, I really liked this calculator which stepped you through the messy math needed to make a decision.
- I can already hear them at night. It’s getting to be Cicada Season (don’t click if you don’t like pictures of bugs).
None of these links are affiliate; they are just items that caught my eye in the last week.
Tiny Tip: Make Matching Art Accessories
I’m not really a decorator. In fact, I’d have to describe my decorating “style” as eccentric. No, that’s not a typo for eclectic. I mean eccentric.
Case in point – I have this super cute shower curtain that I purchased at Ikea (sorry – no link, it’s no longer being offered).
They had matching towels, but no matching bathroom wall artwork was available.
So I made my own.
I took a good, clear closeup photo of two of the fish on the curtain. And then I cleaned them up in Adobe Photoshop and auto traced the result in Adobe Illustrator. I changed the colors to be more vibrant, added a border and border background color and printed it as an oversize color print.
I have the luxury of working where I have access to an oversize color printer, but Staples/Kinkos/etc. will print these in the $1.99 to $9.99 range depending on size and paper stock.
I dropped it into a inexpensive frame (from Ikea, of course) and now my bathroom wall artwork fits the category of “one of a kind masterpiece.”
Pro-tip – always create your artwork to be a standard size so you don’t have to have it custom framed. Standard size frames are readily available and can be inexpensive if you shop at the right store (or have a good coupon).
One other great thing about this trick – when I change my mind about the shower curtain (or it gets really dirty – does anyone actually wash shower curtains?) I can make new matching artwork.
I’m only suggesting this for personal use, of course. I’m not a lawyer, but I’d guess that if you tried to sell an item created this way, you’d likely be violating every copyright law there is.
